Hubster AgentNutmeg sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the January 12th, 2012 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
So, I am sure people have read in other posts about the security checks and the holding room, how the staff determines the seating, that it’s really quite cold in the studio, no cameras are allowed, etc. The warm-up comic for this taping (sorry – I did not catch his name) could be a new guy; I googled Pete Dominick, Craig Baldo, Julian McCullough, and Paul Mecurio, all of whose C.V.’s include TCR warm – up, but none of them resembled the fellow who got the party started at this taping. What he may have lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm, and he definitely wasn’t mean to the audience, which I appreciated. He wasn’t sure about us at first — I guess we were saving ourselves for Stephen — but we ramped up the cheers and by the time Stephen came out we were ready to roar.
There was a lot of material to cover in this show, and it seemed like everyone knew it, so Stephen delivered a sparkling entrance and Q&A at a pretty decent clip. I think I’ve remembered the bulk of the material from the Q&A, so far as I can paraphrase it, and it went as follows (questions are listed in order from dullest to brightest, although #1, #2, and #3 are pretty much tied for most boring):
- Have you visited Australia? –> I think Stephen said he hadn’t been to Australia yet but he did visit New Zealand, which he really liked.
- Would you do a musical/Broadway? –> Stephen mentioned his role in Sondheim’s “Company,” then suggested this would probably tide him over “for a while” [not his exact words but you get the idea].
- Would you ever allow Jane Fonda back on the show? –> After confirming the question by describing Jane’s, ahem, *advances* during her last appearance, Stephen said with a smile that “his wife had embargoed her from being on the show again,” and that Jane “still had some Barbarella left.”
- Which contender from the 2012 Republican field will you miss the most? –> Stephen didn’t hesitate in choosing Herman Cain. He then performed a cracking great impression of Cain singing Amazing Grace to the tune of Danny Boy, and then asked what song you should use to sing about Danny Boy when you’re using Danny boy to sing about Amazing Grace… and as we know from the 11/3/2011 Report, that song is Stairway to Heaven! (He didn’t sing that this time though.)
- If you could choose a Lord of the Rings character as a running mate in a bid for office, who would you pick? –> Straightaway, Stephen said he “would want to confer with Gandalf” and “you probably couldn’t beat Aragorn as a running mate.”
- Have you ever seen a UFO? –> If Stephen sounded like a kid in a planetarium while describing this silver thing he saw one time, he was 100% adorkable when he asked the audience whether anyone else thought they might have seen a UFO — but we were either too boring, or too smitten by the galaxy of win known as Stephen Colbert, to formulate any sort of reply.
- What did Samuel L. Jackson smell like? –> Stephen’s answer, “like a movie star,” was fun, but as you may be realizing now, Stephen compounded the awesomeness by working this question into the Mike Allen interview (namely, “What does Mitt Romney smell like? …Antiseptic peppermint?”). Greatness.
Once the filming started, you saw on broadcast nearly everything I saw in the studio. [Exceptions are noted in the section at the end of this report titled “Cuts.”] So I’m going to focus on describing those times where the audience really seemed to me to be “the other character” in the show. I’m not going to focus too much on the politics of the evening either, since it makes more sense to me to cover that in other posts (and there are lots of things I’d love to discuss about the political angle so you’ll definitely hear
more from me in future comments… provided that’s OK with people, of course).
For me, a huge Audience Moment was when Jon came on set and we all went nuts. Seems like the Nation wanted to show Jon some love and I’m glad we brought it. This country is so lucky to have Jon doing what he does. I wonder if Jon’s extraordinary interview with Jim DeMint was on people’s minds, I know it was on mine, and I hope he got to take in all our thanks.
As commenters on the Episode Guide have suggested, the transferral-of-SuperPAC-power bit *was* really funny to watch without special effects – and the green light they used when filming it just made me giggle. What’s more, it seemed like Jon and Stephen were really using the energy from the audience to crank this bit up to the “epic” setting. Some other commenters have asked whether they needed multiple takes to film this part; they didn’t, and the entire first segment was shot straight through to the announcement/balloon drop.
And the chance to support Stephen when he made his Big Announcement? Righteous. I am so, so glad he is doing this, and that I got to be there at the beginning to cheer him on. Can’t wait to see what he, Stewart, and Potter will do next, and I also keep hoping the Nation will get a chance to help them out in addition to the SuperPAC.
It was also good fun to be Stephen’s “obedient mob” in response to his question, “Oh, this *is* the real America, isn’t it, ladies and gentlemen?” during the Mike Allen interview. Man, that guy walked right into that one.
After the sign-off was filmed, Stephen stayed at his desk and then addressed the audience. He said, “Well that was a marathon,” and thanked us for being a great audience and asked us if we had any more questions. One guy asked if everything the lawyer had said about SuperPACs was true. Stephen confirmed this, and after listing a few of Potter’s credentials again, he went on to mention that the two – year anniversary of the Citizens United decision would occur in just over one week, on January 21, 2012. He wore a sad smile as he described how the show had been doing CU-related segments for eleven months by that point… and as he made his exit from the set, thanking us again and saying goodnight, I think the audience got to appreciate that he seems ready to stay on this issue as long as it continues to wreak havoc on our elections.
More Taping Miscellany, For Your Perusal:
Interstitial Music: Pearl Jam, R.E.M., White Stripes, and a rock/swing-type number (like Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, or Royal Crown Revue, but I haven’t been able to identify the artist yet).
Paul Dinello Sightings: During every commercial break! He was in the group of four men, who would stand in front of Stephen’s desk and review material with him between segments. Unless I’m badly mistaken I think this group also included Head Writer/Supervising Producer Barry Julien and Executive Producer Tom Purcell. I’m still trying to figure out who the fourth man was. Anyway, back to Mr. Paul Dinello. It is so ace that he is a regular Writer and Supervising Producer on the show now, but … fans, let’s be honest about our greed. We want more Dinello on camera, too!
Cuts: You can see a few edits, but trust me from the stuff they filmed, they kept the best. I mean, who can complain about the show we got?
As Kris has mentioned in the “In the Press (Special Presidential Announcement Brief) — January 2012,” one thing that got cut from the broadcast was part of the discussion between Trevor, Jon, and Stephen in which Trevor informed Stephen that he could legally volunteer for the Super PAC (and Jon promptly declared Stephen the “vice president of youth outreach.”) I will be really surprised if this does not become part of a future segment.
The only thing I must blab about was not captured on camera — Stephen’s goodbye to Jon. Stephen reached across the desk and pulled Jon by his arms so he almost lost his balance, and then he gave Jon a kiss on the cheek. Those boys! Needless to say, my besotted fangirl heart nearly exploded. But Jon could not be detained for long. As you saw on camera, once Jon exited the set, Stephen said “Well, folks, if someone could get that man out of my studio…?” [We wanted him to stay too, Stephen!]
And that, dear Hubsters, is my Taping ReporT. Goodnight!
[If anyone has any questions about the taping, please ask and I will respond in the comments. Thanks! I didn’t want to make the taping report too long, so I figured this would be the best way to give people just the info they want.]
The Colbert Report January 12th, 2012: The Taping ReporT!
Hubster AgentNutmeg sent us this wonderful “Taping ReporT” of her trip to the January 12th, 2012 taping of “The Colbert Report”.
So, I am sure people have read in other posts about the security checks and the holding room, how the staff determines the seating, that it’s really quite cold in the studio, no cameras are allowed, etc. The warm-up comic for this taping (sorry – I did not catch his name) could be a new guy; I googled Pete Dominick, Craig Baldo, Julian McCullough, and Paul Mecurio, all of whose C.V.’s include TCR warm – up, but none of them resembled the fellow who got the party started at this taping. What he may have lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm, and he definitely wasn’t mean to the audience, which I appreciated. He wasn’t sure about us at first — I guess we were saving ourselves for Stephen — but we ramped up the cheers and by the time Stephen came out we were ready to roar.
There was a lot of material to cover in this show, and it seemed like everyone knew it, so Stephen delivered a sparkling entrance and Q&A at a pretty decent clip. I think I’ve remembered the bulk of the material from the Q&A, so far as I can paraphrase it, and it went as follows (questions are listed in order from dullest to brightest, although #1, #2, and #3 are pretty much tied for most boring):
Once the filming started, you saw on broadcast nearly everything I saw in the studio. [Exceptions are noted in the section at the end of this report titled “Cuts.”] So I’m going to focus on describing those times where the audience really seemed to me to be “the other character” in the show. I’m not going to focus too much on the politics of the evening either, since it makes more sense to me to cover that in other posts (and there are lots of things I’d love to discuss about the political angle so you’ll definitely hear
more from me in future comments… provided that’s OK with people, of course).
For me, a huge Audience Moment was when Jon came on set and we all went nuts. Seems like the Nation wanted to show Jon some love and I’m glad we brought it. This country is so lucky to have Jon doing what he does. I wonder if Jon’s extraordinary interview with Jim DeMint was on people’s minds, I know it was on mine, and I hope he got to take in all our thanks.
As commenters on the Episode Guide have suggested, the transferral-of-SuperPAC-power bit *was* really funny to watch without special effects – and the green light they used when filming it just made me giggle. What’s more, it seemed like Jon and Stephen were really using the energy from the audience to crank this bit up to the “epic” setting. Some other commenters have asked whether they needed multiple takes to film this part; they didn’t, and the entire first segment was shot straight through to the announcement/balloon drop.
And the chance to support Stephen when he made his Big Announcement? Righteous. I am so, so glad he is doing this, and that I got to be there at the beginning to cheer him on. Can’t wait to see what he, Stewart, and Potter will do next, and I also keep hoping the Nation will get a chance to help them out in addition to the SuperPAC.
It was also good fun to be Stephen’s “obedient mob” in response to his question, “Oh, this *is* the real America, isn’t it, ladies and gentlemen?” during the Mike Allen interview. Man, that guy walked right into that one.
After the sign-off was filmed, Stephen stayed at his desk and then addressed the audience. He said, “Well that was a marathon,” and thanked us for being a great audience and asked us if we had any more questions. One guy asked if everything the lawyer had said about SuperPACs was true. Stephen confirmed this, and after listing a few of Potter’s credentials again, he went on to mention that the two – year anniversary of the Citizens United decision would occur in just over one week, on January 21, 2012. He wore a sad smile as he described how the show had been doing CU-related segments for eleven months by that point… and as he made his exit from the set, thanking us again and saying goodnight, I think the audience got to appreciate that he seems ready to stay on this issue as long as it continues to wreak havoc on our elections.
More Taping Miscellany, For Your Perusal:
Interstitial Music: Pearl Jam, R.E.M., White Stripes, and a rock/swing-type number (like Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, or Royal Crown Revue, but I haven’t been able to identify the artist yet).
Paul Dinello Sightings: During every commercial break! He was in the group of four men, who would stand in front of Stephen’s desk and review material with him between segments. Unless I’m badly mistaken I think this group also included Head Writer/Supervising Producer Barry Julien and Executive Producer Tom Purcell. I’m still trying to figure out who the fourth man was. Anyway, back to Mr. Paul Dinello. It is so ace that he is a regular Writer and Supervising Producer on the show now, but … fans, let’s be honest about our greed. We want more Dinello on camera, too!
Cuts: You can see a few edits, but trust me from the stuff they filmed, they kept the best. I mean, who can complain about the show we got?
As Kris has mentioned in the “In the Press (Special Presidential Announcement Brief) — January 2012,” one thing that got cut from the broadcast was part of the discussion between Trevor, Jon, and Stephen in which Trevor informed Stephen that he could legally volunteer for the Super PAC (and Jon promptly declared Stephen the “vice president of youth outreach.”) I will be really surprised if this does not become part of a future segment.
The only thing I must blab about was not captured on camera — Stephen’s goodbye to Jon. Stephen reached across the desk and pulled Jon by his arms so he almost lost his balance, and then he gave Jon a kiss on the cheek. Those boys! Needless to say, my besotted fangirl heart nearly exploded. But Jon could not be detained for long. As you saw on camera, once Jon exited the set, Stephen said “Well, folks, if someone could get that man out of my studio…?” [We wanted him to stay too, Stephen!]
And that, dear Hubsters, is my Taping ReporT. Goodnight!
[If anyone has any questions about the taping, please ask and I will respond in the comments. Thanks! I didn’t want to make the taping report too long, so I figured this would be the best way to give people just the info they want.]